Myrtle Beach area women taking it all off. Here’s why they are feeling sexy
Kim Cairnes-Elliot has created a photography studio where people feel so comfortable, they take off all their clothes.
Cairnes-Elliot takes boudoir photos — a French word referring to a woman’s bedroom — where people are shown in an intimate, romantic and sensual way. Photos are often taken in lingerie or the nude with carefully placed objects like sheets or bubbles.
She is opening Kimberly Elliot Photography, a boudoir studio located at 3260 Holmestown Road in the Myrtle Beach area. The studio has several themed areas with luxurious couches, a bed, mirrors and a claw-foot bathtub. A bust with a glamorous red robe sits in front of a mirror. The sound of pop music floats in the background, which, combined with Cairnes-Elliot’s excitement, creates an uplifting energy.
In the back, there’s a room full of lingerie and heels, allowing women to slip on and in for a sultry photo shoot.
The photography session starts at $500 while photo packages start at $1,000. Packages can include edited photos, books and wall art, Cairnes-Elliot said.
Cairnes-Elliot most often works with women who may be looking for a confident boost and trying to feel better about themselves. She especially loves to work with women who may be recovering or dealing with trauma, like cancer or major surgeries.
“It’s been difficult to see life stages with women. . . whether they have internal traumas or external traumas. You just don’t know, when you walk by somebody you just don’t know,” Cairnes-Elliot said.
Valerie LaBrake, Cairnes-Elliot’s former makeup artist, has done four boudoir sessions over the years.
“She definitely brought hope back to my life,” LaBrake said about Cairnes-Elliot’s work.
From nurse to photographer
Cairnes-Elliot said she began her 30-year nursing career at age 17. She worked many different specialties, including cancer and mental health. The Virginia native had also done photography for a number of years. She didn’t get serious about the art until she felt the need to leave the medical field in 2020.
“I was really pushed by my spouse to do photography, and it was like, it never seemed sustainable,” Cairnes-Elliot said. “I just woke up one day and I said, I’m gonna put this together. I’m gonna put my medical with my photography, and I’m gonna help these ladies feel better.”
At the time, Cairnes-Elliot was living in New Hampshire and began to mentor with established boudoir photographer Amanda Marquis. Cairnes-Elliot said she moved to Myrtle Beach in 2021 and began doing boudoir in the Grand Strand.
Cairnes-Elliot had one other studio in Surfside Beach, but it didn’t fit what she needed. She began moving into her Holmestown Road location in October, starting with painting the walls and bringing in props. Now, with her space done, she’s preparing for a grand opening.
‘I didn’t know that girl was in me’
Before a photo shoot, Cairnes-Elliot sets up a consultation where she speaks to the client about the photography session and what will happen. One of the first questions Cairnes-Elliot asks is, “Why are you here?”
“Usually that right there answers a lot of the questions, though, when they tell me why they’re coming to see me, that gives me a basis on what road to go down,” Cairnes-Elliot said.
The whys are different for every person. Women say they want to feel beautiful again after a mastectomy, want to do something for themselves while raising children or want to give their partner an anniversary present.
Cairnes-Elliot said she had a woman who posed for Playboy 20 years ago come in for photographs.
“She says, ‘I know I don’t look like that now, but I want that feeling again,’” Cairnes-Elliot said.
The next question Cairnes-Elliot asks during the consult is what they like, and don’t like, about their body. This helps her guide how to take photos in an empowering way. For example, if someone doesn’t like their stomach but loves their legs, Cairnes-Elliot will pose the client with their legs in the air, so their tummy is hidden while their legs are accentuated.
Nikole Barrientos, a client of Cairnes-Elliot, said she felt anxious taking boudoir photos as a tall, plus-size woman, but said Cairnes-Elliot put her at ease.
“I instantly smiled and cried when I saw the makeup. I didn’t know that girl was in me,” Barrientos said. “Me being nervous went out the window the minute I walked in. I wasn’t nervous to have my body or anything around (Cairnes-Elliot). She was so professional about it.”
After the photo shoot, Cairnes-Elliot will then set up a time to go over photographs with her clients in person. She shows them every photo in her office and together they decide which photos will be edited and given to the women.
It’s not abnormal for women to begin crying when they see the photos for the first time.
“I did (a client) reveal on my laptop, and (the client) starts full-on crying,” Cairnes-Elliot said. “I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ She said, ‘I never really realized how much I look like my mom.’”
Cairnes-Elliot will never forget Amanda LaBrake, one of her first clients. LaBrake was a single mother with stage four cancer and Cairnes-Elliot was able to do three sessions with her before she died at 31. Now her family will have these photos of her forever.
“I really believe that photography is like a time machine,” Cairnes-Elliot said. “That’s something you can show to your daughter or show to your grandchildren that this person was here, this person was real.”
